Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a balance shaft for balancing forces of inertia and/or moments of inertia of a reciprocating-piston internal combustion engine and to a method for producing such a balance shaft.
Description of the Background Art
From the prior art, a multiplicity of balance shafts are known. Usually balance shafts are produced by means of a hot forming process, in particular by means of a drop forging process, from a rod-shaped shaft blank.
Balance shafts of this type and production methods for such balance shafts are disclosed, for instance, in printed publications DE 10 2009 036 067 A1 (which corresponds to US 8,210,018), DE 20 2007 018 991 U1 (which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 8,413,630) or DE 10 2007 009 800 A1 (which corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 8,413,629).
For the production of such balance shafts, appropriate tools (for instance drop forging tools) must be provided for the performance of the hot forming process, which tools are comparatively complex and expensive. Furthermore, in particular the use of a drop forging process calls for a comparatively time-consuming and thus cost-intensive remachining of the balance shaft, since corresponding burrs which arise in the drop forging process have to be removed.